1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cassette tape machines, i.e., cassette recorders and/or players.
More particularly, the invention relates to front-loading cassette machines.
The invention also relates to a cassette machine wherein the tape capstan is direct-driven.
2. The Prior Art
Cassette recorders and/or players are becoming more and more popular because they are compact and extremely simple to use. Most of them have a recess in the upper surface of the housing, into which a cassette is inserted from above in flat position, i.e., with its major surfaces parallel to the surface having the depression. Many of the cassette machines are, however, intended for permanent installation, e.g., in a cabinet or the like, so that in such an event the upper side of the machine is not accessible.
To cope with this problem it has been proposed to provide front-loading cassette machines, in which the recess for the cassette is provided in the front face of the housing. The cassette, standing on one of its longer edges when installed, then has its major surfaces extending parallel to the front face of the housing. This creates a new problem since the machine now cannot be built any lower than the cassette is high in its installed position, whereas the trend is towards making these machines lower to give them a slimmer profile.
One proposal for allowing the use of cassettes with low-profile cassette machines whose upper surface is not accessible, is to insert the cassettes with a narrow side thereof into a slot provided in the front face of the machine, so as to extend parallel to the plane of the upper side of the housing. A drawback of this arrangement is that during insertion into the slot the cassette may move skew and become wedged in the slot, or may become otherwise jammed.
For cassette players used in automobiles it is known from German Published Application No. 2,729,835 to provide a drawer which pulls out of the housing and to place the cassette flat into this drawer from above. Another proposal (German Published Application No. 1,472,015) is for an automobile-type cassette machine to be portable, i.e., to be readily removable from a holder in the automobile, and to be insertable into a nest provided for this purpose in a home radio or the like, so that it can be used either in a car or at home and then makes use of the amplifier and speaker of the home radio.
The prior art arrangements have the usual indirect capstan drive, i.e., the type of drive in which the motor is indirectly coupled to the capstan by means of belts and/or rubber wheels. These indirect drive systems are prone to cause undesirable "wow" and "flutter" since fluctuations in the speed of rotation of the capstan (and hence in the speed of advancement of the tape past the tape heads are generally unavoidable. In many instances this is acceptable; however, especially in the higher-quality home sound systems a "concert hall" standard of fidelity is now being required which can not be met with indirect drives.